GREENSBORO, N.C. – Andres Mercedes (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic) was recognized for his superb performance on-and-off the clay for the Guilford College men's tennis team, getting named to the Collegiate Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District team and was picked to advance to the national ballot for a chance to earn Academic All-American status for the second-straight year, as announced by the organization on Tuesday.
In order to qualify for the honor in tennis, student-athletes must be at least an academic and athletic sophomore, maintaining a cumulative GPA of 3.50 or higher in the classroom. Meanwhile, a nominee must be in the lineup for 75% of the team's total head-to-head competitions that had a team-scored result. No more than four student-athletes may be a nominee in tennis per school, per gender.
Mercedes missed some time this spring, but really excelled when on the court, narrowly surpassing the 75% threshold for recognition. He will go down as one of the best players in men's tennis' program history after finishing his career with an 11-3 senior season, a repeat as champion in the top flight at the Methodist Men's Fall Invite Tournament, and an abbreviated but brilliant 3-1 mark in singles play against Old Dominion Athletic Conference's (ODAC) competition in the top flight. Overall, in duals Mercedes went 8-3 against the opposition's best this year. In doubles, the senior played alongside fellow fourth-year,
Emmanuel Oye (Clayton, N.C.) for the entirety of the season with the tandem finishing 9-5 overall out of the top flight. In duals, the pair went 9-3 and were unbeaten out of the top flight in ODAC play. A repeat recipient of the Nereus C. English Athletic Leadership Award, Mercedes has been a four-year standout on the court in addition to his athletic exploits. He graduated from Guilford's Business Administration program with a GPA of 3.98. For his excellence on and off the court, he was selected as one of 76 players nationally to advance to the national ballot and be in the running for CSC Academic All-American honors, one of just three players in the ODAC to move on with a chance at the distinction. The national ballot will factor in an athlete's academic and athletic achievement, in addition to their leadership on-and-off the clay.
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